Student leadership development is a big part of our educational culture. We want to teach our students leadership skills to prepare them to… well, what exactly? Defining the goals of student leadership training and how they relate to each individual student is a good starting point.
For now, look beyond how you define leadership and the qualities that make a good leader. Instead, focus on what your child can gain from learning leadership skills.
Some students crave a leadership role at an early age. Others evolve slowly over many years into leaders. And still others won’t ever want to be in a leadership role. All three of these types can benefit from leadership training.
Students involved in leadership programs can develop an understanding of leadership:
- Responsibilities
- Methods
- Challenges
At the same time, they can learn how to:
- Support leadership
- Influence leadership
When done right, a student leadership program will do more than develop future leaders. It will also create better team members.
Now, Later, and Never Leaders
Students with a natural tendency toward leadership – our ‘now’ leaders – can benefit from programs structured to help them develop and shape their approach to leadership within the scope and objective of any given program. Participating both as a leader and as a team member will help them understand the big picture.
Our ‘later’ or ‘never’ leaders will learn more from discussing and observing the process of leading. They’ll also be more comfortable with this approach. Give them small low-risk leadership tasks and let them focus on team development. Along the way, they’ll learn how to support and influence leaders to promote their own ideas and agenda.
Putting It Into Practice
Two ongoing programs in our homeschool group that promote leadership are our Green Mountain Youth Speakers program and our Jane Goodall Roots and Shoots service-learning program. Both of these programs give our students a place to learn about leadership – no matter where they currently land on the leadership spectrum.
Over the past five years, our youth speakers program has evolved to develop student leadership abilities and awareness. We rotate the students through roles that give them appropriately large or small responsibilities. The parameters we set for their roles give them the structure and content they need to be successful. And, of course, the fact that they’re all working on public speaking promotes leadership qualities as well.
Facilitating student leadership is a little more difficult in our Roots and Shoots program. We have a wider age range and the structure changes based on the chosen project and its progression. Still, it’s a matter of determining which students want to embrace opportunities to lead and which will benefit more simply from observation and participation as a team member. After that, our forward movement is based on achieving project goals with as much student leadership as possible.
Although I’ve gotten better at facilitating student leadership development over the years and enjoy it, I still find it a challenge. Whether you’re a parent of a participant or a group facilitator, it’s a delicate dance. You need to determine where each child is in terms of leadership – now, later, or never – and then adapt as they grow and change. While it’s work, helping youth leaders develop can be extremely satisfying, particularly when you watch a child in the ‘never’ category bloom into a leader.
